Best Amiga game developers?
Seppo Typpo
Who do you think is the best Amiga game developer (or developer team)?
If you want to go even further you can name your favourite
programmer,
the graphic artist,
the musician (and sound effect man (woman))
or the mastermind (game designer).
Both original games and game conversions count. Please add some short
description why your choice is the best :-)
Seppo
Jeff Thomas
- Peter Molyneux of Bullfrog/Electronic Arts, inventor of the "God" games
genre. Responsible for classics: Populous, Powermonger, Populous II and
Syndicate.
- Mike Montgommery/Steve Kelly of Bitmap Brothers. Who gave us: Xenon II,
Speedball 2 - Brutal Deluxe, Gods, The Chaos Engine.
Al O'Dare
news:3D9F7C93.MD-...@pp.inet.fi...
I LYKT A LOT OF THE PEADEA GAMES LIKE MEGABALL BY THE MACKY BROTHERS AND
DELUXE GALAGA BY A GUY HEWS NAME I DONT NO.
I ALSO LYKT THE MUSIC WOT WOZ IN PINBALL DREAMS.
THAT WOZ DUN BY A MAN WOT WOZ LIKE JERMAN OR SUMFING.
ANYWAY THAT MUSIC IS THE SAME MUSIC NOW WOT IS ON THE GAMEBOY ADVANST
VERSION OF PINBALL DREAMS AND WOT HAS PINBALL FANTASTICS WITH IT TWO.
FOR GRAPHIC ARTISTS I DONT NO ANY BUT A GAME WITH GOOD GRAPHICS WOZ CALLED
FRUNTEER ELEETE TOO AND THAT WOZ DUN BY DAVID BRABBUN WHO MUST BE REELY
CLEVER TO GET THEM MENY NAMES OF PEEPULS AND PLANITS INTO A LITTLE UMEEGERS
MEMERY.
UM
FOR MASTERMIND I DIDUNT LIKE THAT COS THE BLACK AND THE WHITE PEGS CONFUSED
ME.
I KEPT FINKING IT WOZ BLACK FOR RIGHT AND IN THE RIGHT PLACE BUT IT WOZ
WHITE FOR THAT
I FINK?
István Fábián
In no specific order:
Best developer
Factor 5, for really pushing the machine and even adding games to the
visuals...
Magnetic Fields for Lotes ETC 2.
LucasArts (in-house) for those lovely adventures.
Infocom for Journey.
The Silents for creating Pinball Dreams.
CinemaWare for their classics, most notably DOTC and Wings.
...and countless others.
Best musician:
Maniacs of Noise, for the incredible Unreal title(s).
Chris Huelsbeck without a doubt.
Rob Hubbard for the epic Populous title.
Tim Follin (mostly for C64 stuff though...)
István
ps: I only count original art, since conversion work is very limited on
possibilites - it can be good or bad, but graphics is cross-platform, sound
is usually taken from the original, only programming counts (sometimes not
even that).
Nathan
> Due to the popular demand, here's another 'Best Amiga xxxxx' thread :-)
> Who do you think is the best Amiga game developer (or developer team)?
> If you want to go even further you can name your favourite
> programmer, the graphic artist,
Hmmmm.. No-one particularly comes to mind. Whoever it was
that did the GFX for the Bitmap Brothers titles (Chaos Engine,
SpeedBall, etc..) certainly deserves a mention here. Beautiful
design and colour (one of the few not to use hugely saturated
colours all over the place.) Very distinctive style.
Banshee AGA was probably the only other game where this style
was well emulated. (Unless it was the same person.)
> the musician (and sound effect man (woman))
Loved the stuff done by those Digital Illusions guys. (Exodus 3010,
Pinball Dreams/Fantasies/Illusions, Benefactor.) Always catchy.
Jason Page was also pretty good (Paradroid, Fire and Ice, Uridium 2,
etc..)
> or the mastermind (game designer).
I'll put this as game designer / programmer, as he certainly
had a hand in both.
Andrew Braybrook. (Gribblys Day Out (c64), Paradroid (c64),
Uridium (c64), Fire and Ice (Amiga), Paradroid '90 (Amiga),
Uridium 2 (Amiga), Virocop (Amiga))
Hmmmm... Apart from AlleyKat (which I never liked) and
possibly Morpheus (which I never saw) on the c64, all of
his titles were beautifully original in design, and had a
degree of polish you don't often find these days.
Joachim Froholt
Al O'Dare wrote:
> "Seppo Typpo" <gro...@pp.inet.fi> wrote in message
> news:3D9F7C93.MD-...@pp.inet.fi...
> > Due to the popular demand, here's another 'Best Amiga xxxxx' thread :-)
> >
> > Who do you think is the best Amiga game developer (or developer team)?
> >
> > If you want to go even further you can name your favourite
> >
> > programmer,
> >
> > the graphic artist,
> >
> > the musician (and sound effect man (woman))
> >
> > or the mastermind (game designer).
> >
> > Both original games and game conversions count. Please add some short
> > description why your choice is the best :-)
> >
> > Seppo
>
> I LYKT A LOT OF THE PEADEA GAMES LIKE MEGABALL BY THE MACKY BROTHERS
Good call. Megaball 4 was released commercially by IAM, btw.
> AND
> DELUXE GALAGA BY A GUY HEWS NAME I DONT NO.
Edgar Vigdal. Check http://www.warblade.as/ to see what he's up to these days
(plus you can download registered versions of his Amiga titles).
>
> I ALSO LYKT THE MUSIC WOT WOZ IN PINBALL DREAMS.
> THAT WOZ DUN BY A MAN WOT WOZ LIKE JERMAN OR SUMFING.
The musicians name is Olof Gustafsson. He did music and sound effects for most
of Digital Illusions games (including all of their Amiga releases). He's a
swede.
Joachim
Joona I Palaste
> "Seppo Typpo" <gro...@pp.inet.fi> wrote in message
> news:3D9F7C93.MD-...@pp.inet.fi...
>> Due to the popular demand, here's another 'Best Amiga xxxxx' thread :-)
>>
>> Who do you think is the best Amiga game developer (or developer team)?
>>
>> If you want to go even further you can name your favourite
>>
>> programmer,
>>
>> the graphic artist,
>>
>> the musician (and sound effect man (woman))
>>
>> or the mastermind (game designer).
>>
>> Both original games and game conversions count. Please add some short
>> description why your choice is the best :-)
>>
>> Seppo
> I LYKT A LOT OF THE PEADEA GAMES LIKE MEGABALL BY THE MACKY BROTHERS AND
> DELUXE GALAGA BY A GUY HEWS NAME I DONT NO.
Edgar M. Vigdal.
> FOR GRAPHIC ARTISTS I DONT NO ANY BUT A GAME WITH GOOD GRAPHICS WOZ CALLED
> FRUNTEER ELEETE TOO AND THAT WOZ DUN BY DAVID BRABBUN WHO MUST BE REELY
> CLEVER TO GET THEM MENY NAMES OF PEEPULS AND PLANITS INTO A LITTLE UMEEGERS
> MEMERY.
I believe he uses an algorithm to construct them from smaller parts.
--
/-- Joona Palaste (pal...@cc.helsinki.fi) ---------------------------\
| Kingpriest of "The Flying Lemon Tree" G++ FR FW+ M- #108 D+ ADA N+++|
| http://www.helsinki.fi/~palaste W++ B OP+ |
\----------------------------------------- Finland rules! ------------/
"To err is human. To really louse things up takes a computer."
- Anon
Børge Nøst
>Seppo Typpo wrote:
>> Due to the popular demand, here's another 'Best Amiga xxxxx' thread :-)
>:)
>> Who do you think is the best Amiga game developer (or developer team)?
>> If you want to go even further you can name your favourite
>> programmer, the graphic artist,
>Hmmmm.. No-one particularly comes to mind. Whoever it was
>that did the GFX for the Bitmap Brothers titles (Chaos Engine,
>SpeedBall, etc..) certainly deserves a mention here. Beautiful
>design and colour (one of the few not to use hugely saturated
>colours all over the place.) Very distinctive style.
How about the Dane Clan?
Hybris, Battle Squadron, Zoom, Sword of Sodan, Datastorm (and more?).
A gfx style I personally am _very_ fond of.
Lovely playability.
Great technical skills.
And Datastorm is of course one of the top 10 games on the Amiga.
(I want that new Dropzone for my GBA!)
-Børge
Hidehiko Ogata
> Who do you think is the best Amiga game developer (or developer team)?
I had a sort of Argonaut Software infatuation after StarGlider 1/2
(brill)... then came Afterburner (ho-hum)... then after loooong wait,
Birds of Prey (hard to get into, unless you are super-plane-geek like
one of my friend was :). Then they defected to SNES to do StarFox IIRC.
> the graphic artist,
Maybe not "the best", but my favorites:
The Digital Illusions guy, for pixel-perfect Benefactor.
Pete Lyon, who somehow managed to save so many drecks (mostly
Microdeal titles) from total suckiness... then did it again for
Psygnosis (Amnios - shut up, Angus-san ;).
Whoever the "Herman" guy is, responsible for many beautiful title pics
(Firebird titles, Exile ECS etc.)
> the musician (and sound effect man (woman))
I just can't get enough of the Battle Squadron tune. Catchy! :)
> or the mastermind (game designer).
No thread with this category should be without a mention of Bill
Williams (RIP), who had given us such wonderful and DIVERSE titles as
Mind Walker, Sinbad, Pioneer Plague, and Knights of the Crystallion.
Probably one of the last few one-person developers who did gfx, music,
design and code all by themselves.
--
// }{idehiko ()gata "What did ya expect in an opera?
\X/ Amiga since '86 A happy ending?" - Bugs Bunny
RIP Chuck Jones 1912-2002
Seppo Typpo
> In article <3D9F966...@yahoo.co.nz> Nathan <tko...@yahoo.co.nz> wrote:
> >Seppo Typpo wrote:
> >> Due to the popular demand, here's another 'Best Amiga xxxxx' thread :-)
> >:)
>
> >> programmer, the graphic artist,
>
> >Hmmmm.. No-one particularly comes to mind. Whoever it was
> >that did the GFX for the Bitmap Brothers titles (Chaos Engine,
> >SpeedBall, etc..) certainly deserves a mention here. Beautiful
> >design and colour (one of the few not to use hugely saturated
> >colours all over the place.) Very distinctive style.
>
> How about the Dane Clan?
> Hybris, Battle Squadron, Zoom, Sword of Sodan, Datastorm (and more?).
> A gfx style I personally am _very_ fond of.
> Lovely playability.
> Great technical skills.
>
> And Datastorm is of course one of the top 10 games on the Amiga.
> (I want that new Dropzone for my GBA!)
My vote for the single developer would be Sid Meier. The man has
designed games for various genres including classics like
"Civilization", "Railroad Tycoon", "Silent Service" and of course
"Pirates!". I shoudl mention my personal favourites "Red Storm Rising"
and "Covert Action" here too - games which look somewhat dull but
contain highly addictive gameplay.
For best developer team it is a tough call between DMA Design and
Sensible Software. Cannon Fodder and SWOS are couple of classics but
DMA can line up Lemmings, Hired Guns and Walker and takes the number
one spot with very narrow margin.
There are lots of other excellent developers and developer teams (like
James "Payback" Daniels and the Team Hoi) which have developed
wonderful games but cannot match the long term track records of the
above.
For graphics artist, Nathan already mentioned Bitmap Bro Dan Malone -
man with obvious talent and taste who gets my vote, too.
For musician, it is one again a tough competition between Richard
"Cannon Fodder" Joseph and Chris "Turrican" Hülsbeck. Both have
distinctive style and lots of memorable tunes. it is a even match but
if I had to choose Mr Joseph would be the winner (with extremely
narrow margin).
Seppo
Seppo Typpo
> Seppo Typpo-san wrote:
>
> > Who do you think is the best Amiga game developer (or developer team)?
>
> I had a sort of Argonaut Software infatuation after StarGlider 1/2
> (brill)... then came Afterburner (ho-hum)... then after loooong wait,
> Birds of Prey (hard to get into, unless you are super-plane-geek like
> one of my friend was :). Then they defected to SNES to do StarFox IIRC.
Vektor Grafix is another fine developer team - allthought their game
tend to require a quite powerful Amiga. Sims like Shuttle, B-17 Flying
Fortress (co-design with MicroProse) and Killing Cloud are pretty
special. They were also doing bits for Dogfight (MicroProse) but it
really is not in the same league imho :-)
> > the graphic artist,
>
> Maybe not "the best", but my favorites:
>
> The Digital Illusions guy, for pixel-perfect Benefactor.
> Pete Lyon, who somehow managed to save so many drecks (mostly
> Microdeal titles) from total suckiness... then did it again for
> Psygnosis (Amnios - shut up, Angus-san ;).
Hehe :-)
> Whoever the "Herman" guy is, responsible for many beautiful title pics
> (Firebird titles, Exile ECS etc.)
You mean Herman Serrano?
Seppo
Nathan
> Børge Nøst wrote:
>>How about the Dane Clan?
>>Hybris, Battle Squadron, Zoom, Sword of Sodan, Datastorm (and more?).
Oh yeah, can't forget half those titles. Sword of Sodan was probably
the first Amiga title I got to really play. Just -loved- it at the
time. (The disk-swapping was just crazy for if ya didn't have another
drive: ask for a second disk, the first, the second *again*, etc.)
Hybris is brilliant (check out my review on Angus's website!) :)
http://www.angusm.demon.co.uk/AGDB/ ..always a fun blast.
Battle Squadron was like they'd revisited the vertically scrolling
genre and put in all the cool elements the didn't have room for in
Hybris. It had a bit of annoying loading .. but that's gone in the
WHDLoad install. (Those inviso-cloak ships are still cool .. and
the tanks going through the tunnels. Such cool visuals.)
> For graphics artist, Nathan already mentioned Bitmap Bro Dan Malone -
> man with obvious talent and taste who gets my vote, too.
Yeah, I couldn't remember his name tho. :) That guy did wonderful
things with the limited ECS palette.
Reminds me of another title. No idea who did the GFX, but Elfmania
has to be one of the prettiest ECS games I've ever laid eyes on.
Really nice little graphical touches all over the place.
(Bootnote: Just checked it out ... GFX are by someone at Tarramarque
called "Golem", and half the other credits are people with similarly
non-descriptive pseudonyms. Not very helpful.) :)
Nathan.
Hidehiko Ogata
> > Whoever the "Herman" guy is, responsible for many beautiful title pics
> > (Firebird titles, Exile ECS etc.)
>
> You mean Herman Serrano?
[rummage through pile of boxes leaked out of closet]
[find a Quartz box]
Yup, that's the guy. Gotta love his style! Was he just a box/title
pic painter, or had he done anything on the actual games?
Seppo Typpo
> Seppo Typpo-san wrote:
>
> > > Whoever the "Herman" guy is, responsible for many beautiful title pics
> > > (Firebird titles, Exile ECS etc.)
> >
> > You mean Herman Serrano?
>
> [rummage through pile of boxes leaked out of closet]
>
> [find a Quartz box]
>
> Yup, that's the guy. Gotta love his style! Was he just a box/title
> pic painter, or had he done anything on the actual games?
I think he did the graphics (and most of the actual game concept)
for Weird Dreams (Rainbird).
Seppo
István Fábián
> for Weird Dreams (Rainbird).
http://www.birdsanctuary.co.uk/
for the official site of Rainbird, Firebird, Silverbird, Telecomsoft
István Fábián
CAPS - The Classic Amiga Preservation Society
http://www.caps-project.org
Hidehiko Ogata
[Herman Serrano]
> > Yup, that's the guy. Gotta love his style! Was he just a box/title
> > pic painter, or had he done anything on the actual games?
>
> I think he did the graphics (and most of the actual game concept)
> for Weird Dreams (Rainbird).
Weird that I don't care much for that one... perhaps he was far
superior a painter than a game designer 8).
Peter Olafson
Amiga games Space Ranger (:) ), Rockford, Sidewinder, War in Middle Earth (a
collaboration with Mike Singleton), NY Warriors, Spirit and Vengeance of
Excalibur, and Conan the Cimmerian as well as solid Amiga ports of other
folks' games, including The Third Courier, Thexder and The Fool's Errand.
Founded by Bob Clardy as a one-man shop in 1979, the company proved adept at
many different styles of game --its Sidewinder and NY Warriors is one of the
Amiga's snazziness vertical shooters--but with War in Middle Earth it found
its true center: a balance of strategy, role-playing and adventure. It would
refine the World Builder engine used in this title over the course of the
subsequent Excalibur games, and, with Conan and the later Warriors of
Legend, move into action-oriented RPGs.
Circa 1992, after Conan, the developer stopped releasing Amiga versions of
its titles and went onto do (mainly) DOS and later Windows stuff--first
licensed titles for Capstone (for whom they'd already done Homey D. Clown)
and then the brilliant action/RPG Warriors of Legend.
In 1996, Synergistic was acquired by Sierra, for whom it did the Diablo
add-on Hellfire, Birthright (the latter of which can be seen as the
culmination of what Synergistic was up to in the Middle Earth and Excalibur
games) and two Front Page Sports football games. (The basketball game it was
working on never surfaced. Nor did the planned Birthright followups.)
That same year. Clardy left to start Eclectic Games. I don't think it
released anything--these days, he's is involved in developing software that
creates sewing patterns--but its web site is still live
(http://www.teamhightower.com/eclecticgames/) and on the index page, under
history, you can find a full list of Synergistic's titles.
Peter
Peter Olafson
"Hidehiko Ogata" <h...@aqu.bekkoame.ne.jp> wrote in message
news:E2.02.xL2yCl...@aqu.bekkoame.ne.jp...
Hidehiko Ogata
Ahh, Peter-san did it again, thanks! :)
(Hmm, HS doesn't seem to have been attached to any particular
publisher... impressive diversity really (what with Fire/Rainbird, EA,
Mindscape, Audiogenic, ImageWorks, Psygnosis, U.S. Gold, Ocean and all.)